Labour relations at Walsh Island during the period 1913 to 1918 were influenced by a number of interrelated internal and external factors. Internally, the establishment of a new industrial enterprise brought together existing PWD employees from Carrington, former Cockatoo Island workers and staff, along with increasing numbers of new employees. This generated new workplace hierarchies, customs and work practices. The rapid pace of the Dockyard's expansion and diversity of operations presented the workforce with new industrial processes and related work practices, and combinations of trades and tasks, that often conflicted with traditional work practices. Moreover, new technologies created tensions between the trades, and between trade and non-trade employees, over the right to use these new technologies, leading to a blurring of lines of demarcation and resultant inter-union disputes. 1
Externally, the most significant factor to affect industrial relations, and the day-to-day operations at Walsh Island, were the pressures associated with the First World War. The war restricted the Dockyard's access to the financial, material and labour resources so vital to its development. The difficulties posed by wartime restrictions affected stability of employment, the cost of living, wage rates, and working conditions, leading to dissent within the Dockyard's workforce. The domestic politics associated with the war had a devastating effect on the Labor Party, and caused great tensions within the labour movement and the Walsh Island workers were not immune to this. Moreover, as an enterprise born of Labor's political will, the Dockyard was constantly threatened with the prospect of closure, and reductions in the volume of government work, by the Nationalist Coalition Government during the later years of the war.2
In order to analyse industrial relations at Walsh Island, an understanding of its enterprise structure and method of operations is necessary. As an industrial enterprise the Walsh Island Dockyard was laid out along strict trade lines as regards both the division of labour and the physical layout of the plant and workshops. This segregation by trade reflected the relative autonomy of the craft unions and, more importantly, the process flow of a large integrated engineering works. The layout of the plant and segregation of the trades related to the various stages of the engineering and manufacturing process where separate production units were responsible for a limited number of tasks. All the major trades had their own base of operations (usually a workshop or specific work area) and the various trade and non-trade employees worked on strictly demarcated tasks related to their base operation. [See Fig. 1; Chapter 1]
Moreover, as Walsh Island was essentially a new works it was significantly influenced by the rapid technological, industrial, political, and social change that occurred during the first two decades of the twentieth century. This rapid change had a direct bearing on labour relations; on how the various trades and labouring groups interacted with one another at the workplace, and the temper of relations that existed between organised labour and Walsh Island management. Traditional craft based industrial processes were in flux as new mass production methods began to predominate in the engineering and manufacturing industries. The expansion in the use of the internal combustion engine, compressed air, gas and electric power had a dramatic effect on how and what work was performed, particularly during the years of the First World War. 3
The sheer diversity and complexity of Walsh Island's operations was reflected in the number employed, and the wide variety of trades and occupations engaged at the Dockyard. These workers were all employed as day-wage labour and segregated by trade, craft, or labouring duties, as set out in their respective industrial awards administered under the Industrial Arbitration Act of 1912. The majority of the workforce were subject to one of four 'Iron Trades' awards which were the Moulders, Boilermakers, Ironworkers Assistants and Labourers, and State Employees awards. The State Employees Award was a broad based one which encompassed a number of engineering trades. These awards set out legally enforceable working conditions including: wage rates, holidays, workplace responsibilities, specific working duties and tasks. Other employees engaged at Walsh Island included salaried staff such as the foremen, (trade and labouring), draftsmen, clerks, typists, secretaries, accountants, purchasing officers, professional engineers and other management personnel. The records available do not specify if any women were employed at Walsh Island in its early years of operations (1913-1918); however, photographic evidence shows female employees among the staff members in the early 1920's. 4
Walsh Island was a 'closed shop' and all day-wage labour were required to be members of a trade or industrial union. There were at least nineteen unions present at the dockyard during the war. The variety of unions reflected the multiple skill categories utilised in this type of engineering operation. The largest category of employees at Walsh Island were trades assistants and general labourers who belonged to the Federated Ironworkers' Association (FIA) and the United Labourers' Protective Society (ULPS). The second largest category contained the skilled tradesmen who were members of the Australasian Society of Engineers (ASE) and the Amalgamated Engineering Union (AEU). The third largest group consisted of the members of the Boilermakers' Society (BS), who included the boilermakers, bridge and girder builders. Although the preferential employment of union members was institutionalised in the awards administered under the Arbitration Act of 1912 the 'closed shop' system that restricted employment at Walsh Island to unionists only was enforced by the unions themselves. However, Griffith had levelled a measure of political support for unionists having stated that non-unionists employed by the PWD were not entitled to receive award rates. 5
An examination of the records of the Newcastle branch of the Boilermakers' Society (BS) provides some insights into the temper of everyday labour relations experienced at Walsh Island. The BS records (deposited at the Auchmuty Archive, University of Newcastle) are the only locally available union archives that record the day-to-day dealings between organised labour and Walsh Island management. A branch of the Federated Society of Boilermakers' and Iron Shipbuilders' of Australia (known as the Boilermakers' Society) was formed at Newcastle in 1877, with the aid of the secretary of the Sydney branch, J.S.T. McGowen, who became the first Labor Premier of New South Wales in October 1910. With the opening of the Dockyard and then the Steelworks, membership grew quickly and the BS was soon in the position to appoint a full-time paid secretary, John O'Toole, in December 1913. The BS exercised strict control over union coverage and employment of its members at Walsh Island. Boilermakers at the Dockyard, apart from having to be financial members of the BS, had to pass an on the job inspection by the union secretary before being allowed to take up a full-time position. Moreover, the BS influence was so great that potential foremen had to gain the approval of the BS before they could be appointed as staff at Walsh Island. The BS, and other craft unions, also acted as employment brokers requesting work for their members, and were the main conduit for management to source labour. 6
The day-to-day labour relations experienced at Walsh Island, as recorded by the BS, were characterised by persistent tensions between labour and management, and between the trade and non-trade employees. These tensions were related to work practices, demarcation, dilution of labour (especially in times of acute skilled labour shortages), and the introduction of new industrial technology and processes, and management practices. The BS minutes refer constantly to inter-union demarcation, competition between trades over work practices and new technologies, and dissent with Walsh Island management, arising from the introduction of new work practices and technologies without prior consultation with the union. In the case of arc welding, for instance, the boilermakers were successful over the fitters and blacksmiths in gaining exclusive rights to use welding equipment. In another instance, the right to use portable electric drilling machines was contested between the boilermakers, fitters, shipwrights, and ironworkers, and was not resolved until 1915, once again in favour of the boilermakers. In both cases these disputes were settled via conferences under the auspices of the Arbitration Court. In another case, the dockyard BS delegates reported that Walsh Island management had introduced a new riveting practice that was guaranteed to provoke industrial action. However, this too was settled by negotiation without recourse to industrial action. 7
The BS delegates gave regular fortnightly reports to their executive, and on the whole, rank and file grievances were passed over to the executive to take up with management. However, the increasing frequency of grievances arising by 1915 saw the executive endorse the establishment of a Vigilance Committee (made up of rank and file members) at Walsh Island to handle minor grievances as they arose and to make direct representations to management before seeking executive intervention. Similarly, the industrial unions instituted the Workers' Progress Committee, which operated at Walsh Island and addressed both minor workplace grievances directly to management, as well as considering issues pertaining to the general welfare of its members. 8
While tensions related to demarcation and new technologies and work practices were continuous throughout the war, they did not, on the whole, contribute significantly as direct causal factors in strike action at the Dockyard. The temper of everyday labour relations was quite distinct from the issues that caused industrial disputes. The incidence of strike action resulting from these everyday tensions was relatively infrequent compared to other large engineering enterprises, such as the Cockatoo Island Dockyard, BHP Steelworks, and Hoskins Ironworks at Lithgow. The frequency and type of 'everyday' disputes that arose between members of the BS and Walsh Island management was similar, however, to that experienced by their counterparts at these other industries. For instance, from 1914 to 1918 the BS Dockyard delegates reported fifty-three issues in dispute between the boilermakers and management, and with other unions. Issues relating to demarcation, working conditions and practices comprised 70 per cent of all issues in dispute. Between 1913 and 1918 there were nine strikes at Walsh Island with a total of 31,375 work days lost. Of these 31,375 work days lost, 23,200 were lost during the general strike of 1917. However, where issues of demarcation, work practices and wages were the major cause of strike action at these other industries, strikes at Walsh Island were largely caused by issues of safety and working conditions.[See Fig. 5] 9
A survey of strike statistics of compatible New South Wales metal industries for the period 1914-1918 [See Fig. 6] demonstrates the level of strike frequency and work days lost at Walsh Island was lower than that experienced at both Cockatoo Island Dockyard and the BHP Steelworks. However, strike frequency at the Hoskins Ironworks was considerably higher than Walsh Island, while work days lost were lower. Where work days lost at the privately owned Morts Dock in Sydney were higher than at Walsh Island; strike frequency was lower. What these figures suggest is that the Walsh Island workforce was considerably less militant than organised labour at Cockatoo Island, Morts Dock, Hoskins Ironworks and BHP. The figures also show the relatively low incidence of strike action at Walsh Island, when viewed in the context of the significant number of issues in dispute. This was due largely to the degree of acceptance by organised labour at Walsh Island for negotiation and conference to settle disputes at the Dockyard.
A survey of the causes of industrial dislocations throughout New South Wales (in the non-mining sector) from 1914 to 1918 demonstrates the experience at Walsh Island did not correspond with the state trends. Wage demands, followed by conditions/demarcation (including work practices) were the major causes of strikes across the state. [See Fig. 7] However, of the nine lost time disputes at Walsh Island recorded during this period, five were related to working conditions and safety, two involved wages, one work practices, and the last (and largest in terms of work days lost) in sympathy with an external dispute. The growth in frequency of strike action at Walsh Island during 1915-1916 was, however, in line with the general strike pattern that developed in New South Wales during the war. This general pattern of increased labour unrest from 1915 to 1917 reflected an initial subordination of organised labour's material interests to those of the state as a whole for the first year of the war. However, by late 1915 the pressures associated with a lack of economic growth, price inflation and a reduction in real wages, led to an increase in dissent and strike activity.10
The most important causal factor behind the grievances expressed by organised labour at Walsh Island was the effect of the First World War on the Dockyard's operations. The financial crises, material shortages, and political machinations that resulted from the outbreak of war in August 1914, raised tensions between the Walsh Island workforce and management. With the outbreak of war most wages board hearings were suspended in late December 1914. While the New South Wales Labor Council was successful in lobbying the government to reopen most of the board hearings early in 1915, the suspension was not lifted on the boards covering the Walsh Island employees. This action, which was received with hostility by government employees, reflected the Labor Government's desire to maximise its control over expenditure, and as the state's largest employer, wage control was of significant concern to the government. 11
At Walsh Island tensions immediately arose out of the economies forced on the operations of the Dockyard which put considerable pressure on its productive capacity and level of employment. More generally, friction across New South Wales between labour and the state government grew as the cost of living continued to rise, largely due to an inflationary cycle spawned by the pressures of demand associated with the prosecution the war. While the basic wage had increased by twenty-five per cent between 1914-1918, the increase in base wage rates of Walsh Island workers compared unfavourably with the percentage increases in both the basic wage and cost of living. The cost of living increased by thirty-eight per cent in Newcastle between 1914 and June 1918, and by an average of thirty-three per cent across the state to June of 1918. [See Fig.'s 8 & 9] 12
The Walsh Island unions, however, pursued overaward payments as another means of enhancing their earnings. The craft unionists were particularly successful, being able to secure overaward payments thanks to the severe shortage of skilled workers at the time of the Dockyard's establishment. Indeed, Walsh Island management recognised that overaward payments were necessary if they were to attract sufficient skilled labour to the Dockyard. However, during the war the Dockyard's labour supply fluctuated between acute shortage and over-supply leading to constant attempts by the government to withdraw overaward payments in periods of labour surplus. Moreover, Walsh Island workers had also gained an entitlement to be paid for travel to and from the island, (a round trip of about one hour) as compensation for this lost time, which the government also threatened to withdraw. 13
It was inevitable that the heavily capitalised Dockyard, as the largest of the state enterprises, would be targeted for economies. Indeed, the actions taken by the Labor Government reflected the level of desperation reached by the administration as it struggled to maintain its public works and other programmes through the financial crisis of 1914-1915. Labour costs were immediately targeted and the effort to cut wages was levelled at overaward payments, holiday and good conduct pay, work practices, as well as a programme for mass retrenchments. The government's drive for economies provoked a dispute in September 1915 when the PWD refused to pay workers at Walsh Island for statutory and good conduct holidays. Premier William Holman stated that he required the cooperation of organised labour if the state Labor Government was to help Australia win the war. This cooperation included not striking, nor making wage claims, acceptance of the suspension of the wages boards, and curtailment of holiday pay. Holman directly precipitated a dispute at Walsh Island in December 1915 when he attempted to force workers to work over the traditional ten day paid Christmas holiday break, to withhold good conduct pay, and withdraw overaward payments. This strategy led to a number of disputes which promoted an air of distrust and confrontation between the Dockyard workers, the PWD, and the Holman Labor/Nationalist Government's throughout the rest of the war. 14
Indeed, political support for Walsh Island from the government began to diminish after the conscription split broke up the Labor administration and Holman's conservative coalition partners lobbied for the sale of the Dockyard. Its future as a state enterprise came under threat when BHP put forward a proposal to lease the Dockyard, with an option to purchase, from the Nationalist Government late in 1917. This development unfolded at the same time as the general strike of August/September 1917, the largest dispute in New South Wales since the Maritime Strike of 1890. The 1917 strike began when engineers at the government's Randwick tram workshops, members of the ASE, walked off the job over the introduction of the Taylor time-card system, which they equated with task surveillance and speeding up. The strike spread, quickly involving approximately 73,500 workers across New South Wales, including eight hundred Walsh Island engineers who immediately struck in support of their fellow members in Sydney. The government closed the Dockyard in anticipation of combined action by the other Walsh Island unions and started deregistration proceedings against the Dockyard unions. Twenty- six unions were eventually deregistered including SPU, FEDFA, FIA, ASE, AEU, & BS from Walsh Island. The deregistration of the six largest unions at Walsh Island temporarily weakened the strength of organised labour at the Dockyard and the total absence of strike action during 1918-19 is testament to this. The general strike left a residual bitterness between the unions and the state government, and contributed to the Nationalist Government's resolve to dispose of Walsh Island. 15
The Walsh Island unionists were totally opposed to the sale of the Dockyard to private enterprise. Indeed, a number of Walsh Island unions met with the Propaganda Committee of the Labor Party's Newcastle Federal Electorate Council to express their support for state socialism and opposition to the sale of state enterprises (specifically Walsh Island) to private enterprise. The following resolution from the Mayfield Labour League was adopted by the Propaganda Committee:
(1) That no enterprise of this magnitude is immediately a success; it is only now that the equipment is such that success is assured.
(2) That handing over of an enterprise such as this to a company already very strong, is a menace to the liberties of the population of Newcastle, and gives too much power to one company.
(3) That to allow anyone now to take over the island is not fair to those who have helped to build it up to the stage it is to-day, when complete success never seemed so easy to attain.16
The unionists obviously felt the Dockyard had been unfortunate in having to establish itself under the restrictions of war and believed it was on the brink of emerging into a period of prosperity. However, the tumultuous events of late 1917 were followed by a rapid decrease in employment at the Dockyard which, at that time, was being starved of work by the Nationalist Government.
From mid-1917, however, the Commonwealth Government had initiated a process of negotiations with ship building unions in order to reach an agreement on a ship building accord associated with the proposed construction of a large fleet of ships for the Commonwealth. Negotiations towards this accord between the re-registered Walsh Island unions and management dominated labour relations throughout 1918. A period of intense negotiations involving the unions, management, and both State and Commonwealth Governments, addressed a whole host of issues. These included demarcation, dilution of labour, wage rates (flat rates and piece work rates), introduction of new technology, work practices and methods. These negotiations highlighted the incredible complexity and ambiguity of the lines of demarcation, and the often very tense relations experienced between the various unions. There was particular animosity displayed between the two engineers' unions, the ASE and AEU, over coverage of workers. Moreover, the AEU was especially hostile to the possibility of dilution of labour and piece-work. The BS, the Blacksmiths' Society, and the Shipwrights were also in dispute over demarcation and rights to the use of new technology. This inter-craft union dissent was mirrored by similar dissent between the FIA and ULPS over coverage and conditions for labourers. Eventually the Walsh Island unions were among the thirty-one unions to sign this historic national Commonwealth Shipbuilding Accord in January 1918. This Accord set, for the first time, universal standards for wages, work practices, and demarcation of labour, across Australia under the auspices of the Commonwealth Shipbuilding Tribunal.17
It is clear that labour relations at Walsh Island were characterised, on the one hand, by persistent tensions between organised labour and Dockyard management, and to a degree, between labour and the government as employer. On the other hand, a large part of this tension was generated by demarcation issues which in turn resulted in often antagonistic relations between the various unions present at Walsh Island. By and large, industrial relations were strained when the government threatened wages and conditions, and when Dockyard management sought to exercise new managerial and production methods without sufficient consultation with organised labour. The inter-union disputes highlighted the rapidly changing nature of the industrial processes they were involved with, the inflexibility of the trade segregated and hierarchal workplace structure, and external financial and material restrictions associated with the First World War. In the final analysis, it is fair to conclude that on the whole organised labour at Walsh Island, while concerned with maintaining wages, conditions, and control over work practices, largely accepted the right of management to manage. The Walsh Island workers were roused to take industrial action when they felt the government had over-stepped its role as employer at the expense of its political responsibility as custodian of an enterprise which as citizens of the state, they actually owned.
1.'Walsh Island Works', N.M.H.M.A., 16 June, 1913; 'Walsh Island Official Opening', N.M.H.M.A, 11 November, 1914 & Federated Society of Boilermakers' and Iron Shipbuilders' of Australia: Newcastle Branch, Minutes of Meetings, (B.S.M.M.), January, 1913 - 4 July, 1915, Auchmuty Library Archives, University of Newcastle, (AB 5596), pp. 109, 162, 168 & 351.
2. I. Turner, pp. 42 & 73; Dyster & Meredith, p. 93; & 'Walsh Island: Is it a Failure?', S.M.H., 12 January, 1918.
3.N.S.W.I.G., v.6, July-Nov., 1914, pp. 1201 & 1204. Between 1904 & 1914 the number of steam power units in factories fell by 7.2%, while total steam horse power doubled. The use of gas powered units grew by 43% and horse power quadrupled. The sharpest increase was in the use of electrical power which grew by a staggering 964%, with horse power output growing by a more staggering 2442%.
4. Walsh Island Dockyard, Works Brochure, 1929; & N.S.W.I.G., v.1, n.1, July 1912, pp. 451-475; v.4, October 1913, p. 321. There were the 'black' trades such as boilermakers, blacksmiths, foundrymen, bridge and girder builders, and anglesmiths. Others who worked with metals included mechanics, engineers, fitters, turners, machinists, plumbers, gas-fitters, sheet metal workers, and coppersmiths. In addition there were the electricians, electrical fitter-mechanics, moulders, patternmakers, marker-offs, template makers, upholsterers, cabinet makers, carpenters, joiners, painters, and shipwrights. A wide variety of machine operators, such as crane drivers, drillers, dressers, planers, millers, sloters, shapers, furnacemen, punch and shear operators, hammer drivers, along with storemen, trades assistants and labourers engaged in all manner of operations. Maritime workers such as marine engineers, wharf labourers, ship painters, dockers, seamen, firemen and deckhands, were also employed. N.S.W.I.G., v.1, 1912, pp. 451-452, 456-457, 461 & 466; & v.4, 1913, p. 321.These trades included mechanics/engineers, anglesmiths, fitters, turners, patternmakers, blacksmiths, springsmiths/fitters, coppersmiths, brass-finishers, planers, borers, sloters, millers, shapers, drillers, and machinists. Walsh Island Dockyard, 1929 & a photograph of Walsh Island staff, c. 1922, out of a total staff of 84 shown, seven were female. This photo came from a small collection featuring Walsh Island (circa. 1917-1920's) in the possession of local historian Ron Cummings of Tighes Hill, Newcastle. The writer has a copy of the photo.
5.F.R.E. Mauldon, A Study in Social Economics: The Hunter River Valley N.S.W., Melbourne, Workers Education Association, 1927, p. 157; N.S.W.I.G., v.5, March-June 1914, p. 782; & 'Shipbuilding Tribunal', N.M.H.M.A., 20 September, 1918. The unions present at Walsh Island were; the Australasian Society of Engineers (ASE), Boilermakers' Society (BS), Amalgamated Engineering Union (AEU), Metal & Moulders' Union (MMU), Plumbers' & Gasfitters' Union (PGU), Blacksmiths' Society (BSS), Federated Ironworkers' Association (FIA), Federated Engine Drivers' & Firemen's Association (FEDFA), Shipwrights' Union (SU), Ship Painters' & Dockers Union (SPDU), Carpenters' & Joiners' Society (CJS), Wharf Labourers' Union (WLU), Seamen's Union (SMU), Firemen & Deckhands' Union (FDU), Dredge & Navigation Employees Union (DNEU), Storemen & Packers' Union (SPU), United Labourers' Protective Society (ULPS), Electrical Trades Union (ETU), and the Australian Clerical Workers' Association (ACWA). N.N.W.I.G., v.1, 1912, pp. 455 & 475; v.7, Dec. 1914 - June 1915, p. 13.
6.B.S.M.M., 1913-1915, pp. 245 & 351; 5 July, 1915 - 4 December, 1916, (AB 5597), pp. 18, 22-23, 29, 34, 84, 100-101, 107, 113-114, 154, 178, 180, 234-235, & 294-295; & 18 December, 1916 - 16 June, 1919, (AB 5598), pp. 40, 45, 48, 56, 73, 119, 252, 259 & 320. Besides outlining the BS activities at Walsh Island, the minutes refer also to correspondence from other unions, Walsh Island management, and the PWD, pertaining to general labour relations and industrial life at the dockyard. References to recruiting and controlling employment for members only are common. Even in times of acute shortages of skilled labour the BS refused to allow the employment of other trade and non-trade employees to perform boilermaking tasks. 'Walsh Island Troubles: Statement by Union Officials', N.M.H.M.A., 11 December, 1915 & G. Robinson, A History of the Newcastle Branch of the Boilermakers' Society of Australia, 1877-1977, Newcastle, Amalgamated Metal Workers and Shipwrights Union, 1977, p. 14.
7.B.S.M.M., 1913-1915, (AB 5596), pp. 47, 48, 54, 109, 137, 162, 168, 182, 232, 245, 260-261, 266, 288 & 351; 1915-1916, (AB 5597), pp. 18, 28, 33, 222, 259, 267, 274, 278, 282, 284 & 294; 1916-1919, (AB 5598), pp. 35-36, 45, 76, 81, 119, 125, 252, 269, 312, 320, 341-343 & 350. 'Electric Welding', N.M.H.M.A., 24 March, 1919. Welders were drawn from the boilermaking trade and initially trained by their union.
8. B.S.M.M., 1913-1915, pp. 47, 48, 54, 109, 137, 162, 168, 182, 259-61 & 266; 1915-1916, pp. 28, 259, 267, 274, 282, 284 & 294; 1916-1919, pp. 45, 76, 81, 119, 252, 269, 312, 320 & 314-42. 'Workers Progress Committee', N.H.H.M.A., 15 February, 1919.
9. N.S.W.I.G., v.4, (Oct., 1913-Feb., 1914), pp. 167, 398, & 1204; v.6, (July-Nov., 1914), pp. 149, 413, 1265 & 1441; v.7, (Dec., 1914-June 1915), pp. 588, 760 & 965; v. 8, pp. 1224 & 1490; v.9, (Jan.-April, 1916), pp. 457, 464, 467, 468, & 470; v. 10, pp. 24, 250 & 1185; v.11, (Nov., 1916-June, 1917), pp. 575, 580, 583, 591, & 592; v.13, (Jan.-June, 1918), pp. 146, 157, 159, 162, & 163; & v.15, Jan.-June, 1919), pp. 271, 273, 274, & 275; v.13, (1918) Special Supplement: The NSW Strike Crisis, 1917. Report For the Minister for Labour and Industry by the Industrial Commissioner of the State, 24 January, 1918, p. 75a. 'Work days' is the term cited in the Industrial Gazette and is used here in preference to 'man' days and represents the same statistical methodology. B.S.M.M., 1913-1915, pp. 48, 109, 162, 168, 182, 232, 245, 260, 266, 288 & 351; 1915-1916, pp. 18, 28, 33, 222, 259, 267, 274, 278, 282 & 284; 1916-1919, pp. 35-36, 45, 76, 119, 125, 252, 269, 312, 320, 341, 343 & 350.
10.N.S.W.I.G., v.6, 1914, p. 1265; v.7, 1914-1915, pp. 760 & 965; v.8, 1915, pp. 1224 & 1490; v.10, 1916, pp. 24, 250 & 1185; v.13, 1918, p. 75a. Malcolm Waters, Strikes in Australia: A Sociological Analysis of Industrial Conflict, Sydney, George Allen & Unwin, 1982, pp. 118 & 123.
11. N.S.W.I.G., v.7, 1914-1915, pp. 11-12. & I. Turner, p. 73.
12. N.S.W.I.G., v.10, May-October 1916, p. 921 & v.14, July-December 1918, p. 5. Prices rose as demand outstripped supply, and a monetary crisis associated with an over issue of Commonwealth currency exacerbated the state government's fiscal restrictions. Evatt, p. 262 & Dyster & Meredith, p. 93.
13.'Walsh Island Trouble', N.M.H.M.A., 8 September, 1914; B.S.M.M., 1913-1915, pp. 181-182, 224, 232, 351; 1915-1916, pp. 22-23, 28, 34, 84, 100-101, 1017, 113-114, 180, 234; 1916-1919, pp. 35-36 & 324. The minutes contain numerous references to labour shortages and overaward payments dockyard workers. N.S.W.I.G., v.4, 1913-1914, p. 1151. A precedent for travel time payments had been set by the PWD Carrington Dyke dredge repair employees in February 1912. 'Walsh Island Troubles; Statement by Union Officers', N.M.H.M.A., 11 December, 1915.
14.N.S.W.I.G., v.8, July-December 1915, p. 1659. For instance in December 1915 Walsh island employed 1097 workers, the Building Branch of the PWD employed about 1000 across the state. The second largest enterprise was the State Brickworks employing 260, followed by the Timber Yards with 250, the Clothing Factory with 120, and the Bakery with 23.Vol. 7, 1914-1915, pp. 10-12; 'Workmens' Time', N.M.H.M.A., 3 March, 1915. 'Walsh Island Holiday Pay Dispute', N.M.H.M.A., 30 August, 1915; 'Holiday Pay Stoppage Averted', N.M.H.M.A., 1 November, 1915; 'Walsh Island Troubles: Statement by Union Officers', N.M.H.M.A., 11 December, 1915; & N.S.W.I.G., v.8, July-December 1915, pp. 1216-1217. The paid ten day Christmas holiday break had been won by the Carrington Dyke dredge repair workers and subsequently transferred to Walsh Island.
15. 'Walsh Island & BHP: Lease Proposal', N.M.H.M.A., 12 & 14 January, 1918; K.D. Buckley, The Amalgamated Engineers in Australia,1852-1920, Canberra, Australian National University Press, 1970, p. 256; N.S.W.I.G., Special Supplement, The NSW Strike Crisis, 1917, 24 January, 1918, v.13, Jan.-June, 1918, p. 70a; N.S.W. Strike Crisis', v.13, p. 75a; v.13, 1918, 'NSW Strike Crisis Supplement', pp. 69a & 190a; Buckley, p. 263; & G. Robinson, p. 16 & I. Turner, pp. 141-145.
16. 'Walsh Island Negotiations in Progress', S.M.H., 14 January, 1918; 'Industrial Matters: Walsh Island', N.M.H.M.A., 17 January, 1918; & 'Unions & Walsh Island', N.M.H.M.A., 17 January, 1918.
17. 'Conference Between Hughes & Unions', N.M.H.M.A., 20 January, 1918; 'Shipbuilding', S.M.H., 22 January, 1918; & 'Shipbuilding Tribunal Meeting at Walsh Island', N.M.H.M.A., 20 September, 1918; Buckley, pp. 255-256, & 276; 'Industrial Matters: Walsh Island', N.M.H.M.A., 12 February, 1918; 'Shipbuilding Tribunal Meeting at Walsh Island', N.M.H.M.A., 20 September, 1918; 'Variations of Agreement Refused', The Argus, 16 February, 1918; 'Boilermakers' Union Refuse to Sign Agreement', Argus, 21 February, 1918; 'Agreement with Workers', Argus, 20 March, 1918; 'Boilermakers & Engineers Refuse to Start', Argus, 21 March, 1918; 'Men Picket Entrance to Yards', Argus, 27 March, 1918; & B.S.M.M., December 1916 - June 1919, pp. 252, 269 & 312; McDonell, p. 148; 'Federal Shipbuilding', N.M.H.M.A., 30 May, 1918; & 'Ship Building Accord & Piecework', N.M.H.M.A., 10 September, 1918. Only the AEU, and the Sydney branches of the Carpenters' & Joiners', and the BS refused to sign the accord.